Advocacy, practice and procedure.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Author: Denny, Otway B., Jr.
• Date: 01 July 1996

ONCE AGAIN the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal maritime law does not always exclude the application of state law. In Yamaha Motor Corp. v. Calhoun(12) a unanimous Court held that federal maritime law does not preempt state law remedies in wrongful death actions involving non-seafarers killed in U.S. territorial waters.

In the summer of 1989, 12-year-old Natalie Calhoun was vacationing with family friends at a hotel resort in Puerto Rico. On July 6, she rented a Yamaha "WaveJammer" jet ski. While she was riding it, she crashed and was killed. Natalie's parents brought suit in federal court in Pennsylvania against the jet ski manufacturer, Yamaha Motor Co., and its distributor, Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A. The Calhouns asserted several causes of action under Pennsylvania's wrongful death and survival statutes and sought compensatory damages for lost future earnings, loss of society, loss of support and services, and funeral expense, as well as punitive damages.

In the trial court, Yamaha sought summary judgment on the ground that federal maritime law provided the sole basis for recovery and displaced all state law remedies. It argued that...